This fall brings a different style class to Wisconsin Theater Arts!
For the fall 2025 session we are bringing all of our students together into one class to work on a CHRISTMAS THEMED PLAY.
The Christmas themed play will be chosen once registration is closed for the class so that we are able to ensure the script requirements fit the number of students enrolled. We also want to ensure that the script challenges the students enrolled and works with all age and talent levels.
**NOTE: This class runs for NINE(9) weeks. **
Students will:
- audition & be cast in a roles(s) for the selected play,
- hone their acting skills through character analysis and development, activities that work on voice projection, nonverbal communication, improvisation, and much more,
- learn techniques for line memorization,
- practice and implement stage directions/blocking,
- learn how to work as an ensemble,
- have fun and bring the show to life!
What is most exciting about combining all the age levels together is that older students become mentors to the younger students. Learn more about the benefits of all age levels working together.
Every role in a production is different and requires different line loads and abilities. Students in this production will have varying line loads which are dependent on the role size they've been cast in. Everyone will have lines to memorize. This means they will require practice time at home.
This play will most likely include an Ensemble. This means that students cast as part of the Ensemble may have featured solo lines. Being a part of the Ensemble means that students will be included in various scenes throughout the play and participate as a group. They will have group reactions and do what we call "stage business". Ensemble roles still require the same amount of rehearsal time to ensure every cast member knows their entrances, exits, group lines, reactions, etc...
Class location:
East Troy High School Theater
3128 Graydon Avenue - East Troy, WI 53120
Class Time: 10:30am - 12:30pm
Class Dates: Oct. 4, 11, 18 & 25; Nov. 1, 15 & 22; Dec. 6
(NO classes on Oct. 8 or Nov. 29)
Additional Class Date: Dec. 10 or 11
(will use if additional rehearsal time is necessary)
Final Dress Rehearsal and Performance
Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025
Arrival Time: 10:00am
(a lunch break will be given in between the final dress rehearsal & the performance)
Performance Time: 1:00pm
All students enrolled in this class must be in attendance for the final two class dates (11/22 & 12/6) as well as the final dress rehearsal/ performance day (12/13). We MAY also add an additional class date on either Wed. Dec 10th or Thurs. Dec 11th ONLY IF additional rehearsal time is necessary.
Attendance throughout the class is essential for the continuity of the rehearsal and performance process. Please make plans accordingly to ensure your child attends every class. We fully understand that your child may need to miss a class. Just give us prior notice of any absences.
Tuition for this class covers: royalty fees for the play, costumes (minus the base layer), set, and props.
Director/Instructor: Patti Punzi
Technical Director/Instructor: Peter Punzi
**WHEN REGISTRATION IS COMPLETE please check all email folders (including spam/promotions) for the confirmation email.
In order to ensure you receive ALL future communications please add the following emails (patti@wisconsintheaterarts.org & info@wisconsintheaterarts.org) to your trusted sender list.**
DRESS CODE:
We just ask that all students wear sneakers to class. Sandals, Crocs, Flip Flops, and the like can become a safety issue during a theater class so please refrain from sending your child to class with these types of shoes.
Students should dress according to the weather. Please make sure that if dresses/skirts are worn that leggings, shorts, bike shorts, etc... are worn underneath. Theater classes do involve movement of all sorts during the various theater activities.
The space we use is temperature controlled so make sure send along layers in case your child gets cold. The backstage/dressing room areas are not temperature controlled. We will not be using those areas until late Nov/early December so those spaces will be warm, but not intolerable. (We have NO control over the air conditioning/heating in the backstage/dressing room areas whatsoever. Fans are used to keep the air moving.)
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COSTUME INFORMATION
Students in this class will be wearing costumes for their final performance. Basic base costume items like shirts, pants, socks, and shoes are the responsibility of the student and parent. We will communicate what will work for the base items based on the type of costume your child will be wearing in the production. We do our very best to keep it simple and items that you already have or can easily find.
All main costume items will be provided by Wisconsin Theater Arts unless a student already has items at home that will work for their costume.
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“There are no small parts, only small actors”
(Konstantin Stanislaviski)
Stanislavski was the “father of modern acting”. He revolutionized the craft of acting. Not just for lead performers, but for the actors with small parts and for background actors and ensemble. Prior to Stanislavski, actors who were cast in small roles or in the ensemble often gave “smaller” performances. This means their acting lacked a sense of purpose. Their characters lacked depth and commitment and it was more like they were spectators versus performers.
Stanislavski found this unacceptable. When he arrived on the scene he expected his actors to truly engage in their roles with “equal commitment” regardless of the role size.
When Stanislavski’s company, the Moscow Art Theater, toured around the world, spectators immediately noticed the change he had made. Audiences now saw ALL the actors, even those with smaller roles or those in the ensemble, move with a sense of purpose and perform their characters with depth and truth. There was a full commitment by every actor on the stage to achieve their character’s objective no matter if they had hundreds of lines, a handful of lines, or none at all.
Here are Wisconsin Theater Arts, we follow this same philosophy. No matter the size of the role, we expect our actors, our performers to be true to their characters and create realistic representations on stage. Every single role in a play or musical has purpose otherwise it wouldn’t be there. We expect every cast member to have full commitment to their performance regardless of the size of the role they’ve been cast in.
(Stanislavski info from: https://actingmagazine.com/2018/07/there-are-no-small-parts-only-small-actors-konstantin-stanislavski/)
